Job overview

We are recruiting to maternity leave cover for one of our team of dietetic assistants. The role includes supporting the adult dietetic team at Colchester hospital with organisational and clinical tasks. The main focus of this role will be the adult dietetic team but there will be a requirement to support our paediatric dietitians in the case of absence of out paediatric assistant. The successful candidate will be a key member of our large team consisting of 2 other assistants and 18 dietitians working across general medicine, surgery, critical care, stroke, oncology, renal and paediatrics. The team is supported by an administrative team. The ability to use your own initiative, work effectively under pressure, recognise when to ask for help and to stay organised is essential.

This is a fixed term role until 26/02/2026

Internal applicants currently employed by ESNEFT will be offered on a secondment basis only.

Main duties of the job

To support the provision of a dietetic service to adult patients under the care of the dietetic team.  This could include face to face, telephone and group contact with patients and their families.

To assist with the processing of referrals received by the team including accessing referrals on the electronic system and printing in readiness for the allocation meeting. Also to update the red day tracker to assist with patient flow through the hospital in collaboration with other dietetic assistants. 

To assist in providing time effective responses to telephone queries, communication with GP surgeries to request prescriptions and support in the management of patients being discharged on home enteral feeding.

To support the dietitians with the education of other staff to ensure good working practices within the delivery of dietetic care.

To provide support to the ward dietitians in completing audits when required and providing feedback and clinical updates to ward teams.
To ensure that the required stocks of oral nutritional supplements and enteral feeds are available by working closely with the catering team regarding stock levels.
To support the dietitians with changes to enteral feed regimes and equipment through liaising with the feed supplier and use of the online patient management system.

For informal enquiries, please contact Philippa Marshall or Hayley Cole by email [email protected] or [email protected] or call the department on 01206 742166.

Working for our organisation

We are ESNEFT and we provide hospital and community health services to almost one million people across east Suffolk and north Essex. Our dedicated staff deliver care from acute hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich, community hospitals, surgeries, community clinics and in patients’ own homes. 

We are one of the largest NHS organisations in England, employing more than 12,000 staff. 

We pride ourselves on supporting our staff. We offer a wide range of training and development opportunities, as well as flexible working options. 

Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services. 

Our philosophy is that Time Matters to everyone. Across the Trust, we concentrate on improving the things we do and removing those which cause time delays for our staff and patients.   

We are investing in our commitment to Time Matters with a partnership with leading electronic patient record (EPR) supplier Epic. This digital transformation will bring what’s widely regarded as the world’s best EPR system to ESNEFT, transforming life in hospital for staff and patients. 

If you are passionate about patient care and want to develop your skills and knowledge, then we want to hear from you.   

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